doughnuts have never really been my thing unless they were freshly made, with a side of hot apple cider. growing up there was a small family-run farm in the next town over. my family would go there occasionally during the fall to get seasonal new york apples. from what i can remember there were only apple orchards, but they had a small indoor shop that had vegetables, homemade pies, different flavored "candy canes", and of course doughnuts that were made right there in front of you. you would eat them as they came out of the fryer, dunked into cinnamon sugar, with a cup of hot apple cider.

a few weeks ago heidi, from 101 cookbooks posted a recipe for berry muffins with a rose cinnamon sugar. i thought the idea of this rose sugar was so clever that i thought for weeks how i was going to incorporate it into a recipe of mine. frank had recently bought me a doughnut pan (i know, the doughnuts they produce are far less exciting than the fried ones, but you guessed it, they are way healthier) and i had been playing around with a couple doughnut batter recipes. the first time i didn't crush the rose petals enough and frank awkwardly ate the doughnut as petals stuck to his lip. the second time, i pulsed them in a food processor. the result was perfect.

while the doughnuts are cooling, place the coconut palm sugar in a food processor, process until the granules turn into a dust. add the toasted almonds and pulse until coarsely ground. add the dried roses, pulse until coarsely ground

when doughnuts are cooled all the way through, dip the doughnut tops into the rose sugar. similarly, you can roll the entire doughnut in the sugar, depends on what your preference is. enjoy!